‘One pension, one family’ in A.P. from October 2

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s trademark ‘Janmabhoomi’ programme is back but in an improved form — ‘Janmabhoomi-Maa Vuuru’ to involve people for better upkeep of their villages, towns and cities.

The programme to be held from October 2 to 20 will coincide with the disbursement of enhanced pensions, from Rs. 200 to Rs. 1,000 to the aged, widows, physically challenged and others in an impoverished condition.

While the overall policy is to extend one pension for one family, exceptions could be made in genuine cases.

“The government is spending Rs.5,000 crore on pensions per year. All the benefits will be synchronised with the Aadhaar number to weed out the undeserving,” the Chief Minister said through a video conference with mandal and district level officers and SHG groups here on Saturday.

Mr. Naidu explained in detail the significance of the 15-day programme that will include distribution of pensions, conduct of health camps and five campaign modes.

The campaign will be for making agriculture and allied sectors profitable, enrolment of children of the age group 6 to 14 in schools, plantation of trees, conserving water, total sanitation and health and fight against poverty.

At the end of the programme, a vision document will be prepared for each village for its transformation.

Mr. Naidu said the six-member teams constituted at village, mandal and district levels would select the beneficiaries before October 2 and they would also visit two to three villages per day during the programme.

Laying emphasis on construction of individual toilets in all houses, he agreed to a proposal to increase the amount from Rs.15,000 to Rs.20,000 for construction of toilets in urban areas. If required a society or corporation would be floated exclusively for sanitation drive and toilet construction which would be monitored by GPS to bring in accountability, he added.